According to gvisit.com, this is where the last 20 blog visitors come from… and there are even more neat Google Maps Mashups on GoogleMapsMania :-)
(Aterere… I think there’s a shida somewhere with Nepal showing up on the map. I do have two friends working in Kathmandu, but I know for sure they never read my blog coz of that lousy inet connection – so maybe it’s just an IP that is assumed to be located somewhere in Nepal? Hash, CG – WPusers – does this happen to your site stats as well?)
James S. Shikwati‘s interview on Der Spiegel in July this year actually stirred up some debates over here – maybe also due to that nice but useless Live8 event that took place during that time.
Just two days ago, I came accross this interesting paper Shikwati presented in November 2003 on a workshop called "Campaigning for Free Trade", organised by the Liberal Institute of the Friedrich Nauman Foundation. In this paper, Shikwati gives a summarized overview on what Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are (Patent, Trademark, Copyright, etc.) and what kind of effect they have on Development in Africa (of course, from his point of view – as liberal as it is). He concludes that "Africa must urgently seize this opportunity of protecting intellectual property (…) to attract more investment".
And the reason I am mentioning all this: Ory‘s covering of the Poptech event as well as her mentioning of the XPrize competition and FabLab make me believe that there are some people out there that do not necessarily just do what the mainstream does (~following guidelines) but who see a real possibility and know that change – and I am not talking about Africa only – will depend on people and not on governments. That we (you, me, everyone) can change a lot and that all those helpful tools are already here – we just need to pick them up and use them.
I just want to get away from this position that there might be "others" on top of us that will tell us or even know what’s good for us if, after all, we all know what governments are capable of doing and even worse what they are not. I think it is about time for us to start our own reasonable projects that will put the people, the beneficiaries, in the focus and give them the knowledge to advance. Be it in a technological or social sense.
I think one day in future, my little niece will be old enough to ask questions – and then she might ask me about the stuff I used to do when "I was younger".
"Well, my dear", I will reply, "when I was about 17, I got my own home computer. An ATARI 1040 STF with an external 30 MB HDD. In Kenya. Imagine this thing running in an environment with frequent power failures – and it worked! Yeah….and so when those x86 / IBM compatible machines became available at an affordable rate, I switched to a Pentium I with 133 MHz and an operating system called Chernobyl 86 Windows95 which took some time to be installed and had more bugs than features. However, by that time in 1996 I was able to go online for the first time. …So as years passed by, computers became more and more powerful and operating systems more user-orientated. In fact, my dear, I think I’ve wasted spent the best part of my twenties (and 30s!!) in front of different computers, trying to fix this and that hard- and software problem, trying out different operating systems and trying to understand why things just didn’t work out the way they were supposed to be…I mean, all I wanted to do was actually USE those machines, you know?"
"But why didn’t you use Mac computers?"
"uhmm….."
"A perfume that makes people want to love each other" – yeah, right…
Three days ago, I got this sample of JPG‘s new fragrance "Gaultier^2". They actually gave out 2 little dispensers along with 2 strange strings – maybe assuming that customers would want to use those extra items to be given to a special person? And even worse – it’s unisex – meaning: yes, YOU – the man – will probably smell like Paris & Co (Perez included :-). Yeah, go figure…
Now, what makes this relevant enough to become a BE on Kiku’s realm – the SMELL reminds me of Nairobi. Ndiyo, good old Biashara Street. Gaultier says it’s a mixture of vanilla, ambergris (sp?) and musk – but!, I tell you, it’s more like the smell inside one of those tailorings mixed up with OMO new powerfoam, joss sticks from a hindi temple, chloride from your fav swimming pool and, once applied on your skin, 12year old suntan lotion. Now go ahead and love me! :-)
Red Cross bubudius found on my table today…
Since I never (!) had any Malaria, I regularly donate blood with the Red Cross society. It’s in a good cause and there are those old Mamas in this kijiji here that serve good coffee and good food afterwards. Actually, I think I just go there because there’s this very old lady that always smiles and – currently living in a country with perfect infrastructure and a good quality of life – it’s still not so often that one meets smiling people (why???). My brother-in-law already hit me the other day, arguing that the German Red Cross (DRK) are thiefs since they are collecting all that blood and selling it for a lot of money. Whatever.
What I do not understand, though, are these littles cruxes they are giving away as a bonus on 5th, 7th and 10th donating event. I mean, wth? am I supposed to do with them? Put them on my jacket? Or sell them on eBay?? Hello???! Dumb!!
I can just imagine this little factory over in Shenzhen, China that produces these metal giveaways and the German Red Cross buys them at huge quantities. They’d be better off saving the money and donating it for a good cause. Like the way I do with my blood.
(but do I say?!)
My dear bro KPT just skyped-in this hilarious picture from Taipeh, Taiwan:
… and of course he asked about the real meaning of this road marking.
My guesses:
1. Only people wearing flat glasses are allowed to use this road.
2. Make sure to use this road ONLY when you’re carrying your jackhammer along with you.
3. (censored)
4. ( also censored :-)
5. No way, maaaan, this ain’t any traffic symbol – it’s some new taiwanese way of warchalking.
6. Wait…isn’t this that guy from that movie…ah…what’s his name again….John Malkoholicvich???
7. The subliminal acknowledgment that Taiwanese DO have bowlegs (is it the Japanese influence ??? ;-)
8. 42.
9. It’s a three-legged octopus that escaped from a Sashimi plate and got hit by a lorry on the road…
10. a Taiwanese painter got bored and invented this strange road marking without any meaning
11. Kikuyumoja’s next blog-entry (BE) :-))))
12. ….
Adding even more personal content to my weblog (ndiyo, Adrian & Hash!) – thus following Nielsen’s weblog guidelines – I just thought about telling you this little nini that keeps on banging inside my head:
The man and his family shown on the above picture (click to enlarge) is non other than Bwana Harrison W. Munyui of Ruaka – who happens to run a succesful taxi business close to Runda estate (yes, that “Krautshill” part of NBO behind Village Market).
Now, this Kikuku* by the name of Lady Kikuyumbuzi* (a.k.a. Mbuzimoja* a.k.a Mandazimoja*), who hails from the slopes of Mt. Bavaria and its great empire (remember Beckenbauer? He’s their Emperor) and who has spent her childhood in Hoima (Uganda) and different parts of Nairobi (Kenya), happens to be Bwana Harrison’s biggest and most persistent customer. She is such a loyal customer that Harrison took her to church last sunday – he asked her to accompany him & his family to “Ruaka Revival Church Centre”.
What she did, of course.
Basi.
Now….as you might have figured already, I am deeply in love with this Tangawizi-Lady*. That woman is strong and – the way it is with love – whenever I think of her, my heart fills with joy and happiness and I can’t wait to see her again. But! – she just dropped me a few lines, telling me that she will stay in Kenya for some more time and currently doesn’t think about flying back to Germany. She didn’t even leave any telephone “namba” under which I could reach her…yani, out of sight, out of my mind? No way! She’s the one that made me think about doing more sports, eventually stop smoking, focusing on my studies and just being more concentrated on the things that will be good for me. But not by telling me (I wouldn’t like that) – instead, she would just inspire me and make me realize it myself (I am an old man who needs some time to realize what’s good and bad and what women actually mean when they say yes or no… :-).
So she left the other day for Kenya and I’m here and thinking: she won’t come back? — then I’ll have to come and visit her! Mapenzi ni kikohozi, hayawezi kufichika. What are you waiting for, dude?
I am waiting to win the lottery which would enable me to buy a plane ticket, I am waiting to find a way of stopping time so I could easily just take a few days off to Kenya without being frightened that I’d miss some important things over here – and maybe I am also waiting for her to tell me that I should just come, no matter what…
Yani, upon seeing Bwana Harrison on that picture and his mobile phone number painted on his cabs door, I had this idea of calling him….what would it be alike?:
“Hello?” – “yes, hello, this is Kikuyumoja calling.. Am I speaking to Harrison?” – “Ehhh….HAhahaha.” -“Ehh…wî mwega?” – “Ndî mega….hahaha” – ( …more greetings here… ) …. (even more) …. – “Sasa, Harrison, me I am having this problem…. I have just arrived at JKIA and I am looking for that Mzungulady who happens to be your regulaaaar cas-tam-aa. You know, the one that has this WangariMaathai powa, the one with that kenyan nose and blonde hair and who just likes to be your guest….” – “Eh…Hahahaaaa” – “..so you know her?” – “Eh…Hahaha…of course I know her, she’s very nice!” – “YEAH, SHE IS! ..Tûrî na mbûri njega*… :-)” – “Where are you now?” – “I am at JKIA and I would like to be your next customer.” – “Wait…me I’ll come”…..t.b.c
What would you do if the person you’re really in love with is some 6600 kms away and you just want to see her again?
*@Mshairimoja: of course all those are terms of endearment! ;-)
Da wir hier immer wieder von parasitären GEZ Laufburschen heimgesucht werden, die für dieses öffentlich-rechtliche Inkassobüro Adressen eintreiben und die GEZ ihrerseits lieber jedes Jahr aufs Neue ihre Runden dreht, statt mal gewissenhaft ihre Adressdatenbank zu pflegen, habe ich vor einiger Zeit dieses wunderschöne Bild von nichtlustig.de (THX!) ausgedruckt und an die Wohnungstür gehängt (da hängt noch mehr :-).
Eben hat es wieder geklingelt und vor der Tür standen zwei schmierige Typen in Anzügen. Kaum war die Tür auf, kam schon ein dämlicher Spruch von einem der beiden von wegen "hööö…ich nehm das da" – und zeigte auf eines der Cartoons an der Tür. Ich schaute ihn daraufhin kurz an und schloss wortlos und mich fragend die Tür.
Später stellte sich dann im Gespräch mit anderen Hausbewohnern heraus, dass es sich dieses Mal nicht um die GEZ, sondern um irgendwelche Telefonfuzzis handelte, die ganz tolle Tarife aufschwatzen wollten….